For Anangu traditional owners, although they welcome tourists, the rock is of great spiritual significance and climbing it is an offensive and dangerous activity they don’t want people doing.

Jeff Lis, 52, and Stefan Gangur, 51 have been friends since high school and travelled from Melbourne to climb Uluru.

“We are both well travelled and everybody, everywhere knows Ayers Rock and they ask if you have climbed it and visited it and say: well you live there,” Mr Lis told AAP before completing the climb on Friday.

“The fact it is closing on the 26th (October), we thought bugger it, we will come here and climb it.

“I’ve got some pretty strong views on it personally, I was born in Australia, it is part of my culture and ancestry as much as anyone else’s but I’m not laying claim to it, saying it is mine or a sacred site or anything like that.”

He argues the walk could still be managed properly and traditional owners are “shooting themselves in the foot” because they will lose revenue they receive whenever people pay to visit the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park.

Crowds attempting to climb Uluru ahead of a ban and against the advice of traditional owners.

These pictures made headlines in The Australian last weekend.

The hotels and campground at the nearby Yulara Ayers Rock Resort have been at close to 100 per cent for the majority of the last 18 months.

It comes after a picture revealed thousands of people clambering up the rock last weekend. The decision to climb it has been slammed by some on social media, with one person asking: “What is WRONG with people,” one Twitter user questioned.

In reply another said: “How about if we go climb on their homes? Bunch of frigged bogan morons.”

Huge numbers are rushing to visit the rock before a ban on climbing takes effect on October 26.

Sean Ruiper and Kristina Key observe Uluru from the top of their camper van during sunset at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch. Source:AAP

National Park culture and heritage project officer Shaeleigh Swan, an Anangu woman, said traditional owners tried to explain the importance of Uluru to their belief system.

“The climb is around a significant site, it is a big part of Tjukurpa (creation beliefs) which has not been able to be told because of interference from tourists,” she told AAP.

The general manager of the national park, Michael Misso, said rather than negatively affecting tourism he thought closing the climb would set a new direction that would ultimately mean a better visitor experience. Bookings after the climb closes on October 26 remain high, he said. “Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its natural, cultural values and traditions intertwining for thousands of years,” he told AAP.

“The closure of the climb enhances the park’s world heritage values … it is in conflict if you have got inappropriate visitor activity.”

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